Selfless
by Emperor Zeref Dragneel
Summary: Naruto learns about his relationship to Karin, which ultimately results in the two embarking on a trip to their former homeland, now destroyed. During the trip, the two discuss various things, among them their feelings for Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke respectively. Will any good result from this trip?
1. Chapter 1

**Selfless**

 **Full Summary:** Sasuke reveals the truth to Naruto regarding Karin's status as an Uzumaki. Of course, the news comes as a shock to Naruto. However, finally finding one of his owns after his mom, he decides to learn the truth regarding Uzushiogakure, alongside his newly found relative. What lies in wait for the two kin as they embark on this journey? Read to find out!

 **Main Pairings:** Naruto-Sakura and Sasuke-Karin.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

 _Enter Uzumaki Karin_

The two makes of Team Seven were currently in Ichiraku Ramen, as per the constant persuading of one Uzumaki Naruto to hang out with his best friend, after all that had occurred in the war. Finally, after all the blood, tears and sweat, he had successfully managed to return Uchiha Sasuke to the village, what he deemed was Sasuke's one true home. Naruto had been overjoyed at the fact that Sasuke had decided to turn over a new leaf after their climatic battle at the Valley of the End, Sasuke finally opening up to the blonde after all those years of keeping his heart locked away in solitude. Of course, the Jinchuuriki wasn't about to waste any more time than he already had, resolving to spend as much time with Sasuke as possible, in order to learn what his best friend had been through in all his time after deserting Konoha. This was one such moment.

As expected, of course, not everyone was such an avid lover of ramen as Naruto was, and he was about to learn that the hard way.

Sasuke stared at the bowl that had been laid out before his eyes in a disinterested manner. Even with all his understanding of Naruto's childhood and how he was a rejected child in his childhood, there was one thing he could not fathom. Naruto's undying love for ramen.

"Naruto, I don't think I can stomach such a…" he stared at the food again disbelievingly, watching the noodles stir ever so slightly in the broth they had been dipped in, dish." I thought we were going to a proper restaurant in order to have lunch? Sasuke exclaimed, his distaste for the food before him evident in his words plus his facial expression at the moment.

Naruto, who was just about to offer his thanks for the food before him, stopped his hands in mid-motion, and then stared at the dark haired man disbelievingly? His eyes were widened in surprise, and then he slowly opened his mouth to express what he had been intending to say at that moment.

"Oi teme, what did you just say about ramen?!" Naruto started, a little irate with how Sasuke had unknowingly insulted his best delicacy in the world. Of course, Naruto did not especially like it when people insulted or expressed disgust at the things he adored most in the world. Among these was ramen, which he held in surprisingly high regard.

Sasuke did not break his gaze away from the ramen, and retained the same façade he had when he said his earlier statement. "What? You want me to spell it out for you? I don't like ramen as much as you, you know." Well, this was actually true. Of all the times that Team 7 went to Ichiraku Ramen in the past after all the grueling missions they had been assigned, Sasuke had rarely indulged himself in the food Naruto eagerly ordered first thing he set foot into the café. Sakura too. Kakashi himself seemed neutral about ramen, so basically the only one who was a ramen fanatic in Team Seven was Naruto. Of course, Naruto paid this no heed, since he was okay with his team the way it was, differences and all. Although Sasuke was a different thing, being his rival and all.

Naruto immediately focused his gaze to the raven-haired Uchiha, looking for something to retort with. His anger had subsided of course, but he was not going to let Sasuke off the hook that easily. If he did Sasuke would probably hold this over him for the rest of his life. There was no way Naruto was going to let that happen, since he was never content with letting Sasuke have one over him.

"You know if you actually gave it a chance you would find out it's a really good meal. Besides my mom loved it loads, so I think I got that from her," Naruto said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly with the last part of that statement. Of course, he was still in bliss over having encountered his mom a few months back prior to the war, so he could not help himself in admitting little things about her that he found absolutely cute. He loved his mom and wanted to make sure that the whole world knew just how amazing a woman she was.

Sasuke, having not expected Naruto to say this at that moment, broke his gaze away from the bowl before him, which had wisps of steam still emerging from him. He looked at Naruto in amazement, since he had never heard anything regarding Naruto's mother. The last time he checked, he was well aware that Naruto was an orphan who knew next to nothing regarding his parents. Something had definitely happened to him.

"Naruto, did you-"Sasuke started, and the brisk nod from Naruto was what he needed to confirm his growing curiosity. Naruto, withdrew his hand from the back of his head, before suddenly continuing to talk. "It happened as I was suppressing Kurama to control his power." Sasuke, now his full attention focused on Naruto, looked at his best friend as he began narrating the tale of events that led to him as he met his mom. Of course, the Uchiha had been a tad surprised to realize in the war that Naruto had completely mastered the power of the Nine Tails, but he did not give it much thought back then owing to the dire situation they had been in. Now was a good time as any to listen to what his best friend had gone through, since the wave had already subsided, leaving an era of peace and quiet in its wake.

"….then she hugged me and thanked me for being born to her and dad." Naruto concluded his heart-warming story, before realizing that he had began tearing up again slowly. Tears threatened to leak out of his cerulean eyes; however, he held them in, realizing that this was a terrible moment to cry. It was a moment of joy, as he had been united with a woman who he had always dreamed of in his sleep, but she always faded away once he stretched out his hand to touch her face. Reliving the precious moments he had spent with his mom made his heart swell out with love for her, then he realized that he wished she were still alive at that moment so she could see his best friend and how he had finally managed to bring him back.

Next to him, Sasuke, having been moved by Naruto's heartwarming story, had a slight smile etched on his usually stoic visage. Of course, he had been delighted to hear that his best friend had finally been able to reunite with his real family, and the joy he could feel emanating from Naruto at the moment felt reassuring to him. He had always wondered what Naruto's parents were like, ever since that time he had began watching the blonde in the years of their childhood, but now, he felt that he had definitely been blessed with such wonderful parents.

At that moment however, a random memory suddenly resurfaced in Naruto's mind, one regarding his mom's relationship to a particular raven-haired woman, similar to the boy seated next to him at the moment. Naruto smiled cheekily, realizing that he had finally found leverage he could use against Sasuke, so he raised his hand to his mouth and chuckled. Sasuke, who was still looking at Naruto, took note of this behavior, before realizing that the blonde boy was probably up to no good with what he was going to do next. He huffed exhaustingly, before refocusing his gaze to his meal in order to spare himself from whatever Naruto had in store for him.

Naruto, however, would not give up so easily. He looked at Sasuke, before starting, "Hey Sasuke, you know what?" Sasuke did not reply to this query, and Naruto took it as affirmation to continue with his tale, much to Sasuke's dismay. "I forgot to tell you this earlier, but my mom and yours were friends! She even met you when you were just a newborn, and poked you in the cheek!"

Sasuke felt his patience wearing a bit thin at the man's antics, but he could not hide the slight embarrassment he felt at the mention of such a ludicrous moment in his life. Of course, no one wished to be reminded of how they were as a baby, finding extreme embarrassment in the matter, Uchiha Sasuke being no exception. Even if he was from the mighty and proud Uchiha clan, he was surprisingly quite touchy on such matters. He opened his mouth again, intending to put a stop to Naruto's farce, but the blonde man was beside himself with excitement at the moment.

"Just what do you intend on achieving with that information just now?" Sasuke questioned Naruto, his voice ever carrying the cool composure that he normally displayed, but not completely hiding the unease he had been feeling a bit earlier.

"Well I'll spell it out for you if you're too dumb to understand it!" Naruto replied between fits of suppressed laughter. He was having too much fun with Sasuke's apparent unease at the moment, the raven haired man noticed to his further embarrassment. That and the fact that Naruto had used Sasuke's earlier words to hit back at him. "If your mom and my mom were friends, then of course that means one thing. They used to hang out all the time right?" Sasuke nodded weakly, wondering where Naruto was headed with all this talk. "Then that means my mom used to invite your mom out for ramen, and she definitely loved it!" Naruto completed his sentence, glee in his voice at the fact that he was assured of his victory at the moment. He had finally found a way to hit back at Sasuke for his earlier remark regarding how he found ramen unpalatable.

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly in surprise, having been caught off-guard for the second moment that day by the blonde man. He had not expected that, and could almost feel himself chuckling in amusement, due to the sheer ridiculousness of the statement. Still, Naruto was Naruto after all, an idiot. He should have at least expected something like that to come from the blonde man's mouth.

The Uchiha cleared his throat brusquely, determined to set things straight with Naruto. If he expected such an attempt to work on Sasuke and convince him of the wonderful taste of ramen, he was dead-set wrong. He closed his eyes briefly before beginning to respond to Naruto, whose eyes were now glittering in excitement as he was still in the belief that Sasuke would finally give in to his persuasion to eating ramen.

"Just so you know, Naruto, my mother's favorite dish was not ramen as you so wish," Sasuke stated coolly, and the disappointment that quickly registered on Naruto's face was cause for glee. He wasn't quite done yet. "Her favorite food was omusubi with okaka and tomatoes." He completed his comeback, his tone a pitch higher and displaying the pride he was feeling at the moment. To add to his inner delight at the moment, Naruto had his face cast downwards in disappointment at the moment, and an aura of gloom was radiating from him, in stark contrast to the delight he was feeling earlier. Sasuke smirked at this sight.

Of course, his mom's favorite dish had been that, and Sasuke had inherited that from her, although he wasn't about to divulge such a minute fact to Naruto.

The blonde man, seeing that he would not get through Sasuke's stubborn head, decided to forget about the whole matter altogether, owing to the way a vein pulsed in his forehead with clear irritation. He threw his hands into the air in dramatic fashion, not realizing that Sasuke could be this stubborn in something as delicate as food matters. Still, this was Uchiha Sasuke after all; the man who Naruto had to beat senseless in order to get him to return to the village, so Naruto could not be surprised at this. He had not changed even after all the years that the two had been friends. It was quite vexing, Naruto had to admit, but at the same time, reassuring, since Sasuke was not Sasuke otherwise.

"Forget it!" He almost shouted, as he had his eyes shut in disappointment. He drew his hands forward in order to bring the bowl of the food next to him, intending to enjoy his meal in peace. Besides, if Sasuke was not going to have any of his ramen, Naruto would be more than glad to relieve him of his burden. He could at least take pride in that fact. A small part of him, however, was happy. Sasuke had actually opened up about his family for the first time to Naruto, something which Naruto had thought was impossible for the raven-haired man. He had been surprised that Sasuke had told him such a thing about his late mother, but well, the two of them were in a similar boat after all. He smiled slightly to himself under his guise of disappointment with this fact, and for what seemed the umpteenth time since the war; his mind told him that he was finally back. He finally had his best friend back, and he would not exchange him for anything in the world.

" _You're really back for good, aren't you, Sasuke?"_

These thoughts ran through his mind as he drew the bowl of ramen towards him. The large wisps of steam that had been emanating from his food earlier had reduced significantly into now smaller wisps, meaning that the food had lost most of his heat. However, it had not yet quite turned soggy; much to Naruto's pleasure, meaning it was still palatable. His mouth drooled a little as the aroma of the food wafted to his nostrils, so he quickly reached out for the chopsticks that lay to the side of the bowl.

There was a wince of pain, and he let go of the chopsticks just as suddenly as he had grabbed them. Naruto closed one eye in slight pain, as he drew back his bandaged arm to soothe it slightly. Beside him, Sasuke heard the man wince in pain, just as he was about to partake of the ramen in order to satiate his best friend's pleas, so he shifted one eye to look at Naruto. Naruto had his hand drawn back to his chest as he rubbed it gently. The Uchiha sighed.

"Idiot. Your arm still isn't fully healed. It will take a few months before it works just as well as your old one," he explained in a patient tone. He was right, of course, Naruto realized. After their final battle in the Valley of the End where they had cleanly blown each other's arms off from their last attacks, it had taken the combined efforts of both Sakura and Tsunade to repair them prosthetic arms from the cells of the First Hokage, and even then, it would still take a while for them to get adjusted to their new limbs. Sasuke had healed progressively faster than Naruto, and was in the final stages of getting his arm completely healed, but the blonde was a completely different matter. It couldn't be helped of course, since Naruto could not stay put and let his arm heal itself with time, frequently infecting his healing injury with his strolls around the village in order to assist in restoring it to its previous state before the war. Even Sakura, with all her telling off and occasional use of violence, had failed to keep Naruto completely put in bed. Well, he would suffer the consequences sooner or later, Sasuke thought, and it had already happened. Life was a bit funny like that.

"Tch. This sucks. Now I can't even enjoy a meal properly!" Naruto exclaimed, clearly not pleased. He had stopped rubbing over his bandaged hand, and made out to eat again, before Sasuke took the bowl away from Naruto. Naruto shrieked in anger.

"That's my meal you dumbass-!" He stopped momentarily, as Sasuke took the chopsticks that were lying idle on Naruto's table. Naruto was a bit confused as to what was going on at first, fearing for the worst at first, that Sasuke would begin to partake of his ramen. However, what the dark haired man did next completely bewildered him. Sasuke plunged the chopsticks into Naruto's bowl, and Naruto suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He immediately realized what the Uchiha meant to do, and he would not let him go through with it. Memories of the pale-skinned member of their team, Sai, and their silver-haired sensei, Hatake Kakashi resurfaced in his mind, with both of them doing the same thing a while ago after Naruto was injured from his fight with Kakuzu. They had effectively ruined his chances of getting fed by the apple of his eye, Sakura, and that had caused Naruto to protest in dissatisfaction to both the men. Here Sasuke was again; doing the same thing to Naruto, and Naruto felt himself feeling a bit disgusted.

"Hey, what the fuck do you think you are doing?" the blonde started, irritation present on his expression on the moment.

"What does it look like? Helping you eat your ramen," Sasuke replied confidently, the chopsticks still holding the strands of ramen between them.

"Oi, you realize how awkward this looks like right now, right?" Naruto added on dryly, having lost all the will to continue this hopeless conversation.

"Actually, I don't. Now eat up, before your food gets cold," Sasuke replied, a hint of sarcasm evident in his reply.

"You're mocking me, aren't you?" Naruto remarked, and could feel his patience running thin at the current situation. This did not sit well with him, in all accounts.

Sasuke chuckled a bit deviously, before setting the bowl back to its table.

Naruto then shook his head in displeasure, before grabbing the sides of his head and exclaiming, as he looked to the air. "I wish Sakura-chan was the one doing this instead of this dolt over here!"

Sasuke felt his amusement rising at this statement, and it was definitely with good cause. He had been aware of the blonde's affections for Sakura since childhood, choosing not to comment on it since it didn't really matter to him anyway. Still, he had to admit he was a bit impressed with Naruto, since he made no attempt at all to hide his affections for the pink-haired girl, as most people would, laying everything out in the open about what he felt for the girl. Naruto definitely had guts, Sasuke had to admit.

"You do realize she is in the hospital tending to the casualties from the war, right? Not everyone has recovered fully from that, you included. You'll have to wait for a while before she can feed you," Sasuke replied, his earlier amusement having died down. Next to him, the blonde man was surprised by what Sasuke had just uttered. This was the first time that Sasuke had chosen to comment on Naruto's relationship with Sakura, and frankly, he was taken aback. He never took Sasuke to be the kind to talk about such things. Then again, Sasuke was quite an enigma himself, so Naruto realized that he definitely had this side to him after all. Additionally, Naruto had never really talked about Sakura in the Uchiha's presence, so this was the first time he had expressed himself regarding her.

"Hmph, that sucks," Naruto remarked, as he placed his head to the table before him. He had not gotten a chance to see much of Sakura since the war had ended, as she was continually cooped up in the hospital alongside her master, the Fifth Hokage, both of them working tirelessly day and night in order to restore the injured to full health. Naruto knew that it would be uncouth of him to interrupt her at work for something as petty as a lunch date, still, he could not lie to himself regarding the fact that he had begin missing her sorely. He silently wished that her time at the hospital would speed up more so he could finally enjoy her company again, just like old times.

Looking towards Sasuke as he reminisced regarding their female teammate, his thoughts suddenly shifted towards another female, having similar connections with Sasuke as Naruto did with Sakura. Realizing he had a chance to retaliate at the raven-haired man due to his earlier mockery regarding feeding him with ramen, Naruto smiled wickedly. Sasuke, who was in the middle of his meal that he had found surprisingly tolerable, did not catch wind of Naruto's devious grin at that moment.

"Hey, hey, Sasuke," Naruto started, his delight visibly showing on his face at the moment. Sasuke, who had a mouthful of noodles suspended in air at the moment, paused momentarily to listen to what the blonde had to say this time. Naruto got up from his slouched position on the table at that moment, and then continued with his earlier statement. "You know I know you wish that Karin was here at the moment to feed you ramen." Sasuke froze momentarily, clearly flustered, and Naruto nudged his shoulder in a playful manner. Sasuke's expression at the moment was pure gold. Naruto then guffawed as he drew back his bowl of ramen that was still on Sasuke's side of the table, before steadily taking the chopsticks that were out of Sasuke's grip and slowly helping himself to his first mouthful of ramen. The taste, as always, was heavenly.

Meanwhile, Sasuke, having recomposed himself shortly after Naruto's words had startled him, regained his earlier confidence and spoke up to the blonde. "You know Karin? How?" Naruto swallowed a mouthful of ramen, before turning to the dark haired man. "What do you mean how do I know her. You know you were the one who left her back at the Land of iron, so Kakashi-sensei suggested to me and Sakura-chan that we should bring her back to Konoha since she could provide useful information regarding you and the Akatsuki," Naruto explained, his hunger having subsided from earlier and leaving him in quite a positive mood.

The Uchiha listened to him keenly as he narrated all the events that occurred in the Land of Iron, up to the point where Karin was carried back to Konoha and left to the Interrogation Corps. A bit surprised, as he had not really thought about the matter. Listening to it now, he felt a tinge of guilt in his gut as he realized the full extent of how his dreadful actions in the Land of Iron had impacted on those around him, more importantly his team at that moment, Taka. He had apologized to Karin of course, once he came face to face with her again on top of the Hokage Monuments as they prepared to head out to the war against Uchiha Madara. However, hearing this from Naruto now, he felt as if he had reason to apologize to the red-haired girl again, this time a tad more than the last.

"But, I'm surprised. I never thought you were the type to travel with a girl. You always seemed so indifferent to the ones in the village," Naruto continued, absentmindedly, as he reveled in the taste of the ramen before him. Truthfully, he had genuinely been surprised to hear Sasuke had a girl in his team, so he could not help but be curious about what differentiated Karin from the rest of the girls who fawned over Sasuke continuously due to his charming looks.

Further to his surprise, Sasuke replied to his off-handed comment, with a pensive voice. "Karin is….special." Naruto looked at Sasuke curiously after this, halfway through with his bowl of ramen, clearly waiting for the raven-haired man to continue his explanation regarding the mysterious girl that had managed to capture Sasuke's eye. The dark haired man found himself remembering the first time he had encountered Karin, whilst he was still in Orochimaru's hideout. The snake-like shinobi had posted him to a different hideout that day, where he was to assist with a certain task. That was when he encountered Karin, the branch leader. The task was simple of course; he had to assist with the recapture of a few of Orochimaru's test subjects that had mysteriously disappeared from their holding cells. The job was done brilliantly, with Sasuke relying on Karin's **Mind's Eye of the Kagura** in order to locate each of the escapees and then to subdue them painlessly. Ever since that day, he had found himself fascinated with the girl's abilities, then made a silent reminder to himself that he would recruit her into the team he was planning to make once he betrayed Orochimaru.

Time went on and on for the two, together with Jugo and Suigetsu, and in them Sasuke found the family he had with Team 7. He was quite content with that. At that point, however, he recalled something that Yakushi Kabuto had said whilst he was battling both Sasuke and his brother, Uchiha Itachi, within the Mountain Graveyard. He was surprised that he had not remembered such a thing sooner, as it clearly was of alarming importance.

" _Plus I have the amazing ability to recuperate quickly. I admit it's a healing technique I learnt from studying the body of a woman originally from the Uzumaki clan. Someone you're quite familiar with…Karin."_

The initial shock Sasuke had felt at these words immediately hit him with the same impact it had back in that cave. Remembering clearly that the blonde boy next to him also had the surname 'Uzumaki', he definitely had to be told of this. Immediately, Sasuke turned towards Naruto, disbelief still etched in his eyes as to how he had forgotten such an important matter.

Naruto was almost done with his bowl of ramen at that point, paying no attention to anything else at that moment. Immediately, Sasuke called for his attention.

"Naruto, I have something to tell you."

"Hm?" Naruto replied, his mouth full of ramen at that point. He clearly had not realized how stern Sasuke's expression and voice had turned at that moment.

"Karin is from the Uzumaki Clan."

Naruto's chopsticks fell limply with a faint noise in the bowl before him.

 **A/N:** Hopefully this is a good start to what is another NaruSaku story, of course, but this time with major SasuKarin in it. I hope this was pleasing enough. Read, enjoy, and review.


	2. An Unexpected Request

**Chapter 2**

 **An unexpected request**

Naruto had momentarily forgotten that he was currently enjoying one of the things in the world that made him the happiest, as his mind registered the information Sasuke had just broken down to him. It was something that he had never expected to hear, having assumed for a long time that he was probably the last 'Uzumaki' in the Ninja World. That thought, of course, had been changed after he had met his mother, but even then, she still confirmed what he had always believed to be true; the Land of Whirlpools had been eradicated in the past, so there was little to no chance of finding any others like him out there. It made him strangely lonely when he realized it at first, but later on, he realized that he still had his comrades from the village, so there was no reason for him to mope around. Still, the news that he had received from Sasuke hit him like a bombshell, so he stared at the man for a few minutes, his mouth agape in astonishment.

Sasuke paid no heed to his teammate, choosing to indulge himself in whatever was left of his meal, finding it surprisingly more and more palatable with each bite he took.

"Are you serious, Sasuke?" He asked his teammate, voicing his doubts over a story that still seemed to be good to be true. In his mind, he tried reconstructing a mental image of the girl that he had seen albeit only once, and what first came to mind was her red hair. It was the same shade of red as his mom's, something which he realized he had completely overlooked the first time, but now, he wondered how he had missed such an important factor. Of course, Karin's hair wasn't silky smooth like his mom's, on the contrary, it was a bit rough around the edges, but it was still red nonetheless. Could it be? Was there a connection between his mom and Karin?

"Yeah, I'm serious. Actually, I remember something the Second Hokage said before we left the village for the war about her," Sasuke continued, and beside him his teammate was inching his face nearer and nearer his in order to listen closely to what he was going to add on," he said that according to her chakra and her red hair, she is from the Uzumaki Clan. I think that's more than enough proof that she's one of you." Sasuke calmly said. At first he had found it hard to believe that one of the members of the team he had gathered had the same surname as his former teammate, at the time, but the more he thought about it, the more and more it made sense. He had expected Naruto to be disbelieving at first, so the current manner in which the blonde boy was acting was perfectly understandable.

Within Naruto's mind, however, his thoughts had been thrown into massive disarray owing to the second bombshell Sasuke had dropped on him in a matter of minutes. Now he had two things that he had to think about regarding the girl. Her red hair…..and her chakra. Now that he thought about it closely, he remembered his mom telling him about how the people in the Uzumaki Clan were possessed with special chakra, which made them a force to be reckoned with by the other Hidden Villages. Was Karin the same? He tried to remember whether he had per chance come across another member of his clan, realizing that there may have been more than met the eye in this case, and luckily, he was able to remember another, who was probably like Karin.

A time not so long ago, before the Hidden Villages had all gone to war with the Akatsuki, he remembered having a talk with Nagato on the outskirts of the village after having defeated his Six Paths of Pain. He realized that for the second time that day, he had not been paying keen attention to the man, but now that he remembered him vividly, he realized that Nagato himself also had red hair upon his head, and it was exactly the same texture of silky smooth like the one his mother had. His breath caught in his lungs at this realization. Not only that, but after seeing the level of destruction that he had caused the village, and the fact that he was still able to fight a fresh Naruto on the same playing field, even overpowering him at one point, spoke volumes about the man's chakra levels. Not any ordinary shinobi could have done that, plus the fact that he even had chakra to cast his last technique that miraculously revived all the villagers he had slaughtered in the siege of the village, something that had made his once red hair turn ash white. It had probably been the result of squeezing out each and every last drop of his chakra, and even then he still had enough of it to revive all the villagers he had killed, that were a really large number. Naruto had to admit that the man was a chakra monster. Just like his mom, just like him, and more recently, just like….Karin. The news still seemed like a cock and bull story to Naruto, but the more he thought about it, the more and more it made sense. This was quite unbelievable.

"Hey Sasuke, you were in the Akatsuki, right? Did you ever see a man called Nagato when you were part of them?" Naruto asked his teammate once more, a last minute effort to confirm his lingering doubts. If what Sasuke was saying turned out to be true, he realized that he had something he wanted to do; something he had thought about for a long time but had never really had the chance to act upon. It seemed like something out of his wildest dreams, but he had to go through with it, or else his mind would never grant him peace.

"I don't know who that is," Sasuke stated bluntly, as he took in the last contents of his bowl.

For a maddening second, Naruto had thought that Sasuke was probably teasing him again and playing dumb, but he realized that even him, when he had found Nagato within the tree he and his partner Konan had hidden in, the man had been a good distance away from the village, plus his puppets. Perhaps that was also how he operated when he was a member of the Akatsuki, only a few members having seen his real face. Coming to this conclusion, he decided to ask his teammate anew, this time phrasing his inquiry in the proper way.

"Then, did you ever come across a member by the name of Pain?" Sasuke paused momentarily, his chopsticks halfway to his mouth, "Ah, that's the guy you defeated when he attacked the village right?" Naruto felt a bit embarrassed at this, rubbing the back of his head cheekily as he struggled to form a coherent response. While it had been an amazing thing what he had done for the village, he had still not gotten used to being praised by the villagers for what he did. Moreover, his best friend, and the person he had always sought acknowledgement from, had never brought the matter up before, so hearing Sasuke telling him that now caught him as a surprise, but it was a pleasant surprise nonetheless. Sasuke took his bashfulness as a sign of affirmation, and carried on with what he was saying, "Zetsu told me about him." At this, the bashfulness that Naruto had been feeling was replaced by a wave of confusion, wondering who on earth Zetsu was. He wasn't exactly one to remember people he had only met once by their names. As his face scrunched into an expression displaying his current confusion, Sasuke huffed, taking note of this and deciding to simplify things for Naruto. "The aloe guy," he stated bluntly. However, once the words had escaped his mouth, he suddenly felt embarrassed about saying something so simpleminded. To his satisfaction, however, Naruto realized who Sasuke was talking about, hitting his fist to his hand in a show of remembrance, and the slight 'Oh! That escaped his palate then being further proof of this.

"According to Zetsu, Pain was an exceptionally powerful shinobi, possibly the strongest member they had. But why are you asking about him now?" Sasuke asked. Naruto frowned slightly that Sasuke knew nothing about the then Akatsuki 'leader', even nothing about his origins, but his intuition was screaming to him more and more that he was spot on about his doubts. Realizing that staying here and talking about it with Sasuke amidst speculations and rumors would do him no further good, he decided to take action.

Sitting up from his stool abruptly, catching Sasuke slightly by surprise, who by then had finished his meal, he turned to leave the store. Sasuke, slightly curious at Naruto's sudden movements, called out to him," Wait. Where are you going?" Naruto stopped in mid motion, just as he was about to take one step outside the ramen stall, Sasuke's question triggering something that he had forgotten to ask. It was a minor detail, but nonetheless important, lest he wastes his energy running around the village like a fool looking for a single person. He turned back to look at Sasuke," Sasuke, where does Karin stay?" If there was anyone who knew where Karin was at the moment, it was probably Sasuke. After all, he was the only person she knew well in the village, aside from the rest of the members of her team, who by then were someplace he did not know.

Sasuke replied, a bit surprised at Naruto's suddenly random question,"Karin? She's stays within the new residential areas that were recently set up in Konoha by the Hokage. Why do you ask?" He added on the last question, but at this, Naruto immediately bolted out of the shop. "Thank you! Sorry, I'll tell you about it once I handle this. Make sure you pay my bill too, Sasuke-teme!" This immediately brought Sasuke's attention to the half finished bowl of ramen that was beside him, which surprisingly his blonde teammate had forgotten to touch halfway through their conversation.

"Bastard," Sasuke muttered under his breath, as he watched Naruto's retreating form heading deeper into the village.

As the blonde walked into the village at a slightly quickened pace, he realized that Sasuke's answer had made him remember something that he had forgotten a while back. Ever since the events of the war, and Sasuke had been recognized as a hero by the Five Elemental Nations for helping to stop Madara and Kaguya, the Hokage, on persuasion by Naruto, had agreed to rebuild the Uchiha residence where Sasuke and his clan used to inhibit in the past. The area of land had been left untouched after the massacre by Uchiha Itachi, closed off from the rest of the village since the higher-ups believed the Uchiha had brought on the massacre upon them. However, Naruto, realizing Sasuke had made a change for the better, and knowing just how much Sasuke loved his clan, figured that he needed a place to live in once he had returned to the village. As per his request, Tsunade had decided to build up some residential areas in the old piece of land, assigning ownership of the land, and telling Sasuke that in case he wanted to get to his goal of reviving his clan, he and his descendants would be allowed to live there. Sasuke, on the other hand, being Sasuke, had not yet gotten to that part of his goal yet, but fortunately he had taken Tsunade up on her offer and lived there ever since his return to the village. While it had been hard at first, since he had seen his kinsmen murdered before his eyes in that very same land, he had slowly grown accustomed to living there, and after a while he had come to recognize the place as home.

Additionally, and coming as a surprising fact to Tsunade and Naruto, when Sasuke had first been granted ownership of the land, his first request had been to allow the members of his team, Taka, to take up residence in the village with him. Tsunade had been adamantly reluctant at first to this request, citing the facts that while Sasuke was an Uchiha and a member of the village, the other members of his team were all residents from other villages, and having them in the village might cause political constraints with their home villages. To this point brought forward by Tsunade though, Sasuke had a rebuttal of his own, stating that Suigetsu was not overly enthusiastic about returning to his home, as he did not know how they would welcome someone who had clearly shown no intention in maintaining ties with them. For Karin, acting upon the information he had received from Kabuto and Orochimaru, he stated that her homeland was no more and she had nowhere to go, so the more reason that she should stay in Konoha and with him. Jugo, who had lived most of his life under Orochimaru, having no clue of where the rest of his clansmen were since he had been brought out of his homeland at an awfully young age, so he had no memory of where his home lie. Moreover, the orange haired man had pledged that he would spend the rest of his life protecting Sasuke, as it was part of Kimimaro's will, so convincing him to stay away from Sasuke would probably not be easy. Tsunade, trying to respond to his information, since she was not one who was overly happy about being caused grief by other villages regarding their shinobi, realized she could not argue against Sasuke's logical points, much to her chagrin and to Sasuke and, additionally, Naruto's relief. In the end, the blonde woman agreed reluctantly, but to find a final standing point with the last Uchiha, instructed him that as long as the other members of Team Taka were in the village, Sasuke was put in charge of them and was supposed to make sure that none of them stepped out of line, or Sasuke would be the one to take responsibility. At this, Sasuke shot a rare small smile at the Hokage, that Naruto silently took note of, before agreeing with the Hokage's terms.

Still, Naruto thought, as he neared the newly formed Uchiha residence, for Sasuke to vouch for outsiders to stay in the village with him, they must have been really important to him. So Sasuke had this side to him as well, Naruto thought, as he stood outside the entrance to the residence. It was a reassuring thing, since he knew that in the case him and the rest of Team Seven were not there for him, by a chance of fate, these people would be there for him. Realizing this set his heart at ease. As he took the first step into the residential area, the first thought that came to him was how oddly desolate the area seemed, as a small breeze blew through and sent his the frisks of hair going in its direction.

In this new residential area, each of the houses that had been recently built had name plates built outside them, for easy reference when looking for someone here. This had been Naruto's suggestion, much to Sasuke's dismay, the blonde citing the fact that in the case the area would be brimming with population in a few years time, it would be difficult looking for a single face within the horde of Uchihas. Sasuke, a man who loved his privacy more than anything else was against the idea, but Tsunade, realizing that she had already gave him more than enough leeway already with his earlier suggestion, refused to concede this time. Sasuke's current house, of course, had been set at the forefront of the compound, respecting his status as the soon-to-be clan head. As Naruto walked past Sasuke's house, making sure to pay attention to the name plates at each door as he looked for the name 'Karin', he did not take long to find the woman's house. It was a stone's throw away from Sasuke's.

Naruto found the woman outside her residence, currently occupied with airing her clothes. He was surprised at finding her house that close to Sasuke's, but the more he thought about it, he realized that she and Sasuke had a strangely close relationship. The manner in which she carried herself and talked about Sasuke somehow signified that there was probably something more than friendship on her part regarding the dark haired man, and somehow, he found her behavior strangely reminiscent of his around his pink haired teammate. He surmised, with a bit of a flushed face, that if he and Sakura were probably living together within the same compound, he would have probably been the first person to claim residence in the house next to his female teammate. This was done out of a desire to be close to the person, and as Naruto watched the girl carry out her duties while silently humming to herself, he ridiculously wondered whether that was a mannerism of Uzumakis that were in love. Dismissing the thought as ridiculous, he took a step forward, intending to make his presence known to the red haired girl.

Karin, however, had already sensed him the moment he had appeared outside the compound of the residence. She would never mistake that bright and warm chakra for anyone else, having gotten a taste of it before in the presence of the blonde man. Still, she wondered just what had brought him to the place, on a day when Sasuke was clearly away. He obviously didn't have any other business with anyone else in the compound. Or did he?

"Yo, Naruto," she greeted the blonde man casually. Of course, any friend of Sasuke was a friend of hers. Much less, someone who Sasuke had openly acknowledged Naruto as his strongest bond, in the presence of foes and allies alike .The blonde had also played a huge role in saving the world alongside his teammate, so Karin realized that she owed him a huge measure of appreciation for that as well. "What brings you here?" She asked the blonde boy, as she finished airing the last of her clothes. An idea popped up in her head that Naruto had come to say hi to her or any of the other members of Taka, who were the only other residents in the area apart from Sasuke, but on second thought, Naruto wasn't exactly on close terms with the Suigetsu, Jugo and her, viewing them as acquaintances more than anything else.

Naruto, realizing that he was alone with the girl for the first time since he knew her, took the time to pay attention to her physical features this time, in order to make sure that his doubts would be cleared completely. He had come to believe that what his best friend had told him was the truth, but it didn't hurt to be cautious, right? It was then that he took note of her red hair, which was now tied in a white head cloth and tied up into a pony tail. The last time Naruto had seen her hair, he remembered it had been in a bit of a frilly state, admitting that this time her hair definitely looked prettier. Perhaps she was doing it to impress Sasuke, Naruto thought, inwardly chuckling at the thought. Well, it wasn't exactly a bad thing to try and catch the attention of someone you had feelings for. More importantly, however, Naruto had no doubts regarding the heritage of the woman. Karin was definitely an Uzumaki, through and through.

Naruto's earlier thought resurfaced, and he decided to voice it to the woman, half hoping and half praying she would agree to his suggestion. The other half of him told him that it would probably be too ridiculous a suggestion and she would first laugh at him before denying it. It was worth a thought, however, so he started a bit unsurely of himself," Karin, I have a favor to ask you." The woman, who was now emptying the residual water that had been left in her bucket after finishing her laundry, perked up her head to listen to the blonde. Naruto took this as a sign that he had caught her attention, and decided to continue, this time a little more confident," Would you be willing to come to the Land of Whirlpools with me? I want to go and see what my homeland is like." He stated clearly. He then braced himself inwardly for the response he would receive, which, it turned out later, was a good response.

"Huh?" Karin replied, her voice displaying the disbelief she was feeling at Naruto's request. Naruto caught a small glint in her eye, further cementing how sure he felt about her heritage at the moment, and he allowed himself an inward smile. For a moment, she thought that her ears were playing tricks on her, but seeing the somehow astute expression on Naruto's face told her that she had definitely heard him right. The Land of Whirlpools,huh? Now that was a name she had not heard since eons ago. However, as much as the name of her old home brought back a slight sense of nostalgia, she did not want to leave the current happiness she was enjoying in Konoha, which was primarily due to Sasuke's company day in day out. Just the sight of his face daily was enough to put a smile on her face, and she realized, she was content with that.

"No," she responded to the blonde man bluntly, after finally wrapping her head around his ridiculous statement earlier. A small part of her mind, however, berated her inwardly for failing to catch on such an obvious fact earlier. The first time Naruto had been mentioned in the headquarters of the Akatsuki, at the moment, she had been focused on his status as a Jinchuuriki, and not him as an individual. She was sure the rest of her teammates had also failed to realize that the boy's surname was 'Uzumaki', save for Sasuke, of course. She, unlike him, had been aware of her heritage as an Uzumaki ever since she was a toddler, having spent some of her life in the land. Ever since her homeland was destroyed, she realized that she had chosen to completely block out all her memories and thoughts of her homeland, as they brought her more pain than happiness. However, being in the presence of someone who she had known for quite some time, she realized that she should have realized that the two were related sooner than now. The thought somehow made her feel ashamed of herself, but even then, she realized, she was not going to comply with his favor, since, she, unlike him, knew that there was nothing else left for her in that place.

Naruto's expression dropped at her reply, something she silently took note of. Of course, he realized, this would not be easy. He had to convince her completely to come with him, since if she came half heartedly, there would be no meaning to the trip at all. He decided to try again, this time his voice more hopeful and confident about what he wanted to request," Karin, please. I want to go see where my mother hailed from," Karin batted an eyelid at this, her hands now folded at her chest as she wondered what Naruto was going to say next since he seemed as if he was not about to give up yet and go back. "I recently met my mother, she was really pretty. Her name was Uzumaki Kushina," Naruto started to dabble on about his mother, caught up in the nostalgia he felt after remembering his mom, for what was the second time that day. Somehow the memory brought him joy anew each time he remembered it; it was his treasure.

 _Kushina._ Karin echoed to herself inwardly. Now there was a name she also hadn't heard in a long time. Even while she was leagues away from her home, within Hidden Grass Village, she had gotten wind of that name on the tongues of a few of her fellow village mates at the time. Uzumaki Kushina, more commonly known as 'The Red Hot-Blooded Habanero', was a legendary name that was known across the Five Great Nations. The woman was one of the strongest kunoichi to have bloomed in the Ninja World, and to boot she was the wife to the Leaf's Hokage, The Yellow Flash. At first, Karin had been surprised to find out that the woman's surname was Uzumaki, bearing a similar one to her own, but when she heard that the woman sported a beautiful shade of red hair just like hers, she realized the rumors really had a bearing. She felt proud at this fact, realizing that one of her fellow clansmen had made a name for themselves in the Ninja World already, and a bloody good one at that. This gave her a little courage as she strived on her own path to being a Kunoichi. Nothing in the world, however, would have prepared her for the fact that the boy standing before her at that moment, recognized as the world's hero, Uzumaki Naruto, was Kushina's son.

Karin was reluctant to believe his story at first, but from what she could tell of Uzumaki Naruto so far, he seemed the type to never lie about such a sensitive matter. Much less, she had not sensed any disturbance in chakra from him, something that was always evident whenever one lied. So she had no choice rather than to believe him. For a moment, however, she realized that she had not been listening to him, only watching his mouth move and his hands sway in the air, trying to convince her to come with him. Deep in her thoughts, Karin realized that she was for the first time contemplating going back to a home that she had banished from her memories ages ago. Was it really worth it? She wondered to herself. Still, this time she would not be alone, she added on, since she would be in perfectly good company, and the company was actually going to be one of her relatives. This made Karin feel at ease. She closed her eyes, and huffed, releasing a small breath that displayed her doubts about this entire matter, and then opened them to meet Naruto's blue orbs once more. He seemed to have finished explaining himself to Karin, as he was now looking at her with an aura of tension around him, patiently waiting for her reply.

Ah. Whatever. Let's just get this thing done and done with.

"Okay, okay, Naruto, I'll come with you."

The vibrant smile that she witnessed on Naruto's face would remain an important part of her memory from that day forth.

 **A/N:** To be continued.


	3. I Won't Tell Them

**Chapter 3**

The duo of Naruto and Karin were currently standing near the entrance of the Hidden Leaf Village, having emerged from the Hokage's office. Luckily enough, Tsunade was lenient enough to grant them permission to go see their homeland, albeit with a few terms and conditions of her own.

 _An hour earlier_

" _I refuse!" The blonde woman boldly stated from behind her desk, once she was presented with the request from the Nine Tails Jinchuuriki. Once she had realized that he had graced her with a visit that afternoon, her initial impression was that he had come to ask for a mission to cull his growing boredom within the Village. She had never in her life expected the man to come to her asking for permission to go see the Whirlpool Village._

" _Why?!" Naruto's voice shot back with anger towards his Hokage. The blonde man was clearly disappointed at being denied a request that had come to him in a flash of inspiration. He had been entirely sure that the elderly woman would be willing to allow him to go see his homeland, as she would understand that it was an integral part of his life, but having been rejected had thrown him off his good mood earlier day. And after he had discovered another of his kinsmen too! A vein of irritation throbbed in the whiskered man's forehead, and he had to struggle to prevent himself from lashing out right there and then._

" _It's not a good idea to go to an abandoned place alone, Naruto. You should be aware of this perfectly!" Tsunade retorted, unfazed by the blonde man's visible anger just then. She was not going to allow herself to agree to such a ludicrous statement._

" _But my mom was born there! Granny Tsunade, come on!" He threw his hands into the air in protest, his anger not abating by the slightest. Things had gone awry, and at this rate he was contemplating sneaking out of the village with Karin in the safe of the night in case the Hokage stood firm by her decision. He had done it before, so of course right now would be no different from back then._

 _At this statement, a memory prodded at Tsunade, one with her white haired old friend that had taken place quite a while back. Jiraiya had told the blonde woman that at one point, he intended to reveal the entire truth of Naruto's lineage, including his parents, to the boy himself, which in turn would cause him to take him to see his mom's homeland. When Tsunade had asked him when he intended to tell this to Naruto, Jiraiya simply smirked and said that he would do it when he reached 20 years. Tsunade herself had no qualms with that, but things had not exactly gone according to how Jiraiya had envisioned them._

 _The former Toad Sage was deceased, leaving in his wake no other parental figure for Naruto. Of course, Tsunade had scarcely forgotten his promise to her regarding Naruto, so she decided a few days past after his death to take the initiative to take Naruto to his homeland when he came of the decided age. It would be a suitable way of honoring Jiraiya's memory, she surmised. Now here he was asking to go already when it was still three years too early for him._

 _Deciding to try his last hand before he would have to resort to drastic measures, Naruto recomposed himself, closing his eyes to calm himself momentarily. Opening them once more, he bumped his chest with his hand, before stating in his usual confident demeanor," I'll be fine, Granny Tsunade, I promise. I'm strong enough to handle anything that comes our way!" Looking behind him at the red haired girl who was standing a few paces away from the door, her hands folded across her chest as she listened to the two people before her in their current discussion, Naruto pointed at her with both his hands as if unveiling a princess at a royal occasion, and pressed on," Besides, in case of any enemy attacks or ambushed along the way , Karin will sense out the enemies before they even get a drop on us. We'll be practically untouchable!" He expressed in an enthusiastic manner. This time, he was confident that Tsunade would definitely listen to him._

 _A moment of silence ensued, Karin briefly nodding to affirm Naruto's statement just then. Ahead of her, the blonde woman was currently regarding her with her brown eyes, her hands pursed on the table before her. Karin squirmed uncomfortably under the gaze of the elderly woman, clearly not used to being looked at so sternly for an extended period of time. The red haired woman had clearly not adjusted to life in the village entirely, Tsunade took note of. Well, she couldn't exactly blame her. Being in a new village was definitely hard for any foreign shinobi, and if it wasn't for Naruto the girl probably wouldn't be in her office in the first place. The situation with her other two teammates, save for Sasuke, was certainly none the better, the Hokage remembered vividly. Suigetsu and Jugo were scarce seen within the Village walls, and according to ANBU reports the two spent the most of their time in the Forest of Death, mostly honing their skills or relaxing. Of the two, Jugo, in particular, spent most of his days talking to the animals and birds within the forest, while Suigetsu napped away at the branches of tall trees. Their days would climax with the duo returning to the estate they shared with the lone Uchiha plus the red haired Uzumaki._

 _Closing her eyes for a moment, Tsunade gave the request a fair amount of thought this time. Silence still reigned supreme in the air surrounding the room, but Tsunade broke the streak a minute later," Okay, I'll allow you two to go." She caught a brief glance of Naruto's beaming face, continuing," But," she placed more emphasis on this word, and the small flash of nervousness that crossed the blonde's face at that moment was somewhat satisfactory," I want you to promise that you will send occasional reports over your status, plus where you are."_

 _Tsunade concluded her response and she could see the blonde man sigh with relief as his dreaded wishes had not come true. The Hokage was not entirely sure of her decision even as she passed it, but she realized that if she robbed Naruto of a chance like this, it would prove to unfair to him. That and she had the nagging feeling that he was planning something along the lines of sneaking out of the village in case she didn't concur with his wishes. If that happened it would open a whole new can of worms, and Tsunade was not ready to deal with such a backlash at the moment._

 _Naruto basked in his new found bliss, his eyes gleaming with happiness as he looked at the elderly woman before him, a surge of affection for her coursing through him. Just then, the words of the Hokage rung in his ears once more, and his face contorted into an expression of confusion._

" _How are we supposed to send the reports?"_

 _What followed next was something that both Tsunade and Naruto had not anticipated at all. There was the brief sound of heavy footsteps, and the loud sound that resulted from a smack. Naruto's head edged slightly forward from the impact with Karin's hand, and robotically, he turned backwards, looking disbelievingly at the woman who had just hit him on the back of the head. Tsunade's eyes had widened a little as well, but there was a small hint of amusement in her expression shortly afterwards._

" _You're the Toad Sage, aren't you? You can figure something out," the red haired woman spoke in a curt manner, her eyes closed and a small frown evident on her face. She was almost at the edge of her patience, having initially thought that once she and the blonde had gotten the clear, they would already be on their way out of the village. Lingering here longer served no further purpose to her._

 _Clearing her throat ahead of them, Tsunade regained her usual demeanor, before addressing them, "Well, that's how it is, Naruto. There's something I need to ask the two of you first," She eyed the two kinsmen momentarily, Karin having drawn level with Naruto after hitting him on the back of the head, then continued," Do you know exactly where you're supposed to go? If not I can refer you to the library where you can get one or two maps to show you where your destination is."_

 _The bespectacled girl surprised the two Konoha ninja once more by being the one to respond this time. Shaking her head slightly, she responded, this time in a tone with an undertone of respect," its okay, Hokage-sama. I know where the place is. It might take a while to get there though." Tsunade paused a little, registering the girl's stern expression just then and taking it as a show of her honesty, before dismissing both of them with a wave of her hand," Okay then, I think everything is in order. I'll trust Karin with navigating the two of you. You best be on your way now."_

 _Naruto raised his fist into the air in a show of ecstasy, and jolted for the door. Karin beat him to the punch, however, her hand already placed on the door knob, swinging it open. Naruto followed suit after her, but just before he was outside, an idea flashed across Tsunade's mind. She hastily called out to the blonde man, "Naruto, aren't you supposed to tell a certain someone before you leave?"_

 _The blonde man halted in mid motion, resting his hand on the door he was about to swing further open to let himself through. He looked back at the Hokage, a confused expression etched upon his face. Karin spared a glance backwards from the corner of her eye, wondering herself whether there was anything that they had forgotten. Tsunade had fallen eerily silent, tapping the edge of her desk with her finger, one of her eyebrows arched upwards as she looked back at the blonde boy, hoping that he would catch on to what she was trying to tell him._

 _It didn't work, since Naruto continued staring dumbfounded at the woman, expecting her to cough out an explanation any moment now._

 _Sighing in exasperation, Tsunade complied, "She'll get angry if you leave without telling her, you know."_

 _Realization slowly became evident on Naruto's face, his mouth widening slowly and his eyes growing wide. Soon enough, a nervous sweat broke out on his forehead, and he tried to smile nervously to ebb away the small fear that had just cropped up in him. He knew full well what Tsunade was trying to get at now, and from the look on his face just then, Tsunade was glad that he wasn't planning to leave impromptu without properly informing his female teammate first. Ever since the Fourth Great Shinobi War, Haruno Sakura had become increasingly protective over her teammates, wary of leaving each of them on their own for extended periods of time. Naruto and Sasuke had nearly died after their battle on the Valley of End, blowing each other's arms clean off, and Sakura had to be the one to witness the horror of both of them in their near death state. The pink haired girl had been scared stiff since that day, and had vowed that she would never allow anything like that to ever happen again as long as she was still part of Team Seven with them. To prove serious on this vow, she checked up on both of them regularly, both for medical purposes and for her own purposes, Naruto more than Sasuke. This wasn't out of bias of any form, but rather, she seemed to be aware of the relationship between Sasuke and Karin, one founded on trust, and left him mostly in the care of his red haired teammate. Once Tsunade had gotten wind of this news, she chuckled, realizing that Sakura was acting as the mother figure of Team Seven, worried over what her two boys would be up to in her absence. It was nostalgic to the elderly woman, realizing that this was what their camaraderie was._

 _If she caught wind that Naruto had left without telling her, the pink haired girl would be livid, and in the event of his return, Naruto would be in for a world of hurt and a flurry of lectures._

 _A nervous sweat had broken out on Naruto's face by then, and he scratched the back of his head, "Granny Tsunade, can't you think of something to help me out here?" He asked, his words coming out in a slur. He shuddered to think what would happen if per chance Sakura got wind of him as he was exiting the village. The need to leave the village suddenly deepened, and he was ready to leave at a moment's notice._

 _Behind him, however, Karin's earlier irritation, which had reduced some after they had gotten permission to leave, came back in a rush. Cursing slightly under her breath, she remarked, "This is stupid," before leaving the room completely and leaving only her blonde comrade. Naruto realized that he was about to be left behind, and all the dilly dallying had only served to anger Karin further. Hastily waving a goodbye to Tsunade, without waiting to hear her response to his earlier question, he promised to keep in touch with the village leader, following suit after his red haired friend._

"Are you ready to leave?" Karin asked the blonde man, who was currently in the middle of putting the final touches to his backpack. Tightening the last loose strands, Naruto refocused his blue eyes back to her. His growing excitement was visible in the way his eyes shone when he looked at her. Grinning at her, he said, "Hell yeah!", and his voice was brimming with enthusiasm. Karin herself was not particularly familiar with the blonde man's antics, only knowing the much she knew about him from seeing him in the Land of Iron and from what Sasuke told her, so this was a new side of him she was seeing. It put her at quite a loss.

Turning her head to face the gate entrance, where a dusty path stretched out ahead of them, Karin took a step outside the village, to meet the outside world for the first time in a very long time. The members of Team Taka were not exactly granted reprieve to go on missions by the Hokage, as part of their retribution and also on account of them being, so the red haired girl felt strangely pleased at being allowed outside. She took a couple of steps forward, before the blonde called out to her again.

"Wait." Karin looked over her shoulder at the blonde man, and was surprised to find out he had not made any single attempt to move from his initial position, which was quite odd.

"What is it?" She asked, and edge of frustration in her voice. At the rate they were going they would never reach Whirlpool Village. Karin had it up to her neck with interruptions that day, and she decided that if the next thing that came out of Naruto's palate was trivial or unnecessary, she would clobber him over the head one more time like she had done in the office earlier. This time, using more force.

"What about you?"

"What do you mean what about me?" She folded her arms across her chest and shot a dull look towards the blonde man.

"Aren't you going to tell Sasuke you're leaving?" Naruto asked a curious manner to his voice. Talking with Tsunade about Sakura earlier had made him realize that he wasn't the only person who was leaving without telling a teammate.

Karin's gaze widened for an instant, before she averted her gaze away from Naruto and focused intently on the ground beneath her feet. _Just when she was trying her hardest to ignore that feeling too._

Naruto as usual, was none the wiser to what he had just done, choosing to press on;" He's your teammate isn't he?"

The red haired girl remained silent awhile longer, before she turned her back to the blonde man and began trudging on the dusty path leading out of the village.

The Nine Tails vessel grew worried, thinking that he had struck a chord with what he had said carelessly, so he moved to make amends immediately. "H-hey," he called out to the bespectacled girl once more, stretching out his hand as if beckoning to her.

"He doesn't need to know something as trivial as this," the red haired girl grumbled under her breath, but loud enough for Naruto to catch wind of what she had said. His hand froze in mid air. She continued," We'll be back before he even realizes it," she concluded her response.

By this time, she was already a fair distance away from the village entrance. There was a seed of hesitation planted in her when Naruto asked her about her decision whether to tell Sasuke, and she realized that if she lingered longer within the village walls, there was a chance she would go back on her earlier decision not to inform Sasuke about her impromptu decision. As she reflected on what she said earlier, she realized that there was a small truth in her words, she really didn't think it was such an important matter that Sasuke should know of it. This was coupled with her decision not to make him worry unnecessarily over her over something that would not take too long.

Naruto looked at her retreating back for a moment, his thoughts centered on what a weird girl he had gotten stuck with this time. He hadn't expected her to react that way about Sasuke, but it allowed him to see a side of her he didn't think of her. He rushed to draw level with the woman, placing his hands behind his head.

"I didn't think you had that side to you," he stated, a slight tone of awe in his voice just then.

Karin closed her eyes, "What side?"

"An impulsive one, like me. Apparently I got that from my mom," he said, breaking out into a smile at the end of his sentence. A wave of nostalgia overtook him when he realized who he had remembered, but Karin did not reply to this statement. But it was okay, Naruto did not think that she needed to say anything just then. He would have enough time on the road to talk to his new relative, well, as soon as he figured out how they were related.

As he walked beside her, Naruto surmised that it was his first time on a mission with someone of his age outside the Konoha 12. Perhaps this would be something that would remain an integral part of his memory on the road that lay ahead of them.

 **A/N:** I know that this story hasn't been updated in two months, so first I would like to apologize for the lengthy delay. Writers' blocks can be pretty annoying at times. But well, I finally broke past it, and this is what I was able to get for this chapter. I hope you guys will love it; well I know the length is disappointing, but I promise that will be rectified from next chapter. Read, review, and enjoy.


	4. The Lost Temple

**Chapter 4**

 **The Lost Temple**

"Is this the place?" Naruto asked, as he cleared some rushes that were impeding his path with a swing of his hand. He and his partner had walked quite a ways to get here, a trip that had not taken quite as long as he had initially made it out to be. There was a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead, which he swiped at with his other hand, before craning his head backwards to look for his partner.

"Yep, this is it. We're finally here," Karin replied, emerging a few paces behind the blonde man. Naruto looked at her for a little longer, taking note of the few leaves that were caught in her messy hair, plus the small nips that were at the edges of her tank top. Karin rubbed her hair a little to shake off the dry leaves that had nestled there as they were making their way through the forested area, and also knocked off the leaves that had settled on her bodice as well, before drawing level with Naruto. Before they had set off from the village, Naruto had implicitly asked her a number of times whether she was comfortable travelling in the garb that she had on at that moment. Karin's choice of attire was probably among the most bizarre that Naruto had seen in his life, and he wondered why she even chose that when she was going on what was going to be a possibly long venture, which had prompted him in mentioning what followed.

 _Once Naruto had posed the question regarding her clothes, she had simply waved him away with a swing of her hand, telling him that she had been used to dressing that way ever since she had become a full fledged ninja. That had not been something that the blonde had expected at all, but even then, it did little to diminish his concerns over the red haired girl._

 _Of course, Naruto was unsatisfied with that reply, and Karin, taking note of the dissented look on his face, sighed, bracing herself for what she was about to do. She pointed her finger to her bag, something that caused Naruto to tilt his head in confusion. This prompted Karin to spell out to him that she had carried an extra set of clothes in her bag. Upon this sinking in, Naruto nodded satisfactorily, with a bright smile on his face._

 _After that short exchange between the two travel companions, conversation had come surprisingly short for the two. You would think that they were strangers who just happened to be going in the same direction if you passed by them. The silence that had ensued of course had bothered Naruto to no end, as he had expected slightly more from the girl. Usually whenever he went on missions like this that had the tendency to be lengthy, he would make sure that he would spend as much time as possible bantering with his company. On the contrary however, nothing of the sorts seemed to be going on with Karin, and he was about to protest, but he had to remind himself that he knew next to nothing about his travel companion. As long as he did that, then he would be okay and would not wallow in boredom._

 _Before long however, all of a sudden he felt the atmosphere around him and his companion grow stale, and for a moment he feared that he was walking alone. He looked behind him with such haste that it even flustered Karin a little, and she stopped walking momentarily._

 _There was a desperate look of sorts on Naruto's face, although it edged more towards comedic than anything else, something that puzzled Karin a little. She knew almost nothing about Naruto herself, lest for what she had heard Sasuke say absent mindedly from time to time in the company of his teammates, but when someone was walking in the path ahead of you as they were facing you, without paying attention to what was ahead of them, then there was definitely something amiss._

 _Need it be mentioned, that was how Uzumaki Naruto was walking at that moment._

 _Karin arched her eyebrows upwards from behind her glasses, and folded her arms across her chest. "Spill. What is it?" Personally on her front, she had not picked up on any anomaly, be it from Naruto or from the vicinity around them, but she could not have anymore of Naruto's current gait at the moment. Whatever he was doing would just draw unnecessary attention to them from passers-by, and Karin was not the type to thrive under such eyes._

 _Naruto sounded as if he was on the verge of crying when he spoke up, and Karin had to do all she could to refrain herself from reacting to that._

" _It's you."_

 _A vein popped on the red haired girl's forehead, and twitched a little. "Huh?"_

" _You're being no fun at all in this trip!" Naruto protested, his cheeks puffing out and one of his fingers pointing at her, before he threw her hands in the air in protest._

 _To say that Karin was befuddled at Naruto's antics plus his gestures just then would be an understatement. Her earlier growing irritation was well forgotten by that point, being completely blown away by the astonishment she was feeling at the moment. Of all the things Naruto could be beefing about….._

Well, he is as kiddish as you said he was, Sasuke, so I'll give you that. _When the matter replayed in her mind, she could not hold it in anymore. It started out as a small chuckle that escaped from her mouth, which was soon followed by a series of giggles and she had to cover herself to stifle the loudest of them, lest anyone who was passing would think that something had overcome her. As she was lost in her momentary amusement, she made a mental note to tell Sasuke all about this particular part of the trip, as soon as they got back to the village._

 _For a few moments, Naruto was lost as he watched the girl giggle and chuckle, but he did not say anything, allowing Karin to revel fully in the joy of….something he thought he had done. He was not particularly sure what it was that he had done, but since the last thing that had happened before the girl broke into a fit of giggles was him protesting at her, so he figured that it was something that he had said that had triggered this._

" _Er….."_

 _He finally found his tongue._

 _Karin managed to regain her composure, dabbing at the corner of her eyes from underneath her glasses. She then stretched out her remaining hand before her," Sorry…sorry about that. But damn….you is exactly as Sasuke said you were. And hella hilarious as well." At first, Karin was not exactly sure what kind of a person Naruto was, he certainly wasn't that enigmatic of a character like Sasuke, and he didn't look as if he was that easy a character to read, however, being with him now, Karin finally realized that Naruto was more of a 'what you see is what you get 'kind of guy. Well, that got the first cog out of their relationship well out of the way, and it proved that this trip was going to be well worth it for two different things._

 _That sentiment by Karin just then captured Naruto's attention, and all of a sudden he found himself curious over what she meant by that. Inching closer to her, he smiled mischievously before asking her in a subdued tone," Hey, hey, so what exactly did Sasuke say about me?" This seemed like an opportune chance to dig up dirt on his best friend, and if it proved successful, he would make sure Sasuke never heard the end of this as soon as they got back._

 _Unfortunately for the blonde however, Karin was not overly eager to participate in whatever twisted ideas he had at the moment, seeing perfectly through Naruto's ploy. Raising a hand as if to shield her face from him, she dismissed him with the usual curt nature in her voice," That's for me to know, and for you to find out." The manner she said it told Naruto well enough that she had the last of that topic, before she proceeded to walk past him and take her position in front of the man._

 _Before she completely walked past him, she caught a glance of his dismayed expression from the corner of her eye, and somehow it amused her and satisfied her at the same time. Despite that, however, she was going to remain tight lipped regarding what he had asked earlier, although that did not mean that she would not consider telling him about it later. That would depend on her mood then, however._

 _The duo walked a fair distance again, and Naruto spoke up again, this time having a general idea of what sort of person Karin was. She seemed not to delve too much into pointless conversation or drabble with anyone, only seeming to speak up when she was spoken to, and even then that wasn't something that happened all the time. Well, he had picked up something of the sorts when he had first made her acquaintance._

" _So do you have any idea on how to get there? Uzushiogakure I mean."_

" _You came all the way here, and this was your idea, without knowing how we're getting there." Karin shuddered at the thought of what would have happened if Naruto had decided to set out solo on this voyage._

 _That was quite….ridiculous now that she thought over it. But oh well, since she was there, she figured out that she might as well indulge him._

" _I do, although a bit vaguely if I'm to be honest. The last time I was there was when I was a kid, and that was a little over 10 years ago. So first, before we actually go there, there's a certain place I want us to go visit first. Well, I want you to see it for yourself._

 _Naruto chose not to delve further into what she had said in that sentence earlier, regarding her past, choosing to focus on what she had said in the second part of her sentence instead. "What exactly is this place?"_

" _It's a temple that Sasuke and the others told me about a while back. They had visited it before, and Sasuke had picked on the words Uzumaki once inside, so one day he let it slip that he had found a temple that he thought would interest her." She hoped that she could still remember the route that she had been told to use to get to the temple, lest they would end up wasting most of their energy and conclusively the day._

 _Little did Karin know, saying something that hinted at a sense of adventure or wonder was prone to trigger Naruto's enthusiast levels and send them off the charts? From the moment she had mentioned talk about a particular temple, Naruto immediately went on the lookout for any building in the vicinity, occasionally asking Karin whether or not they were there yet._

 _At first, Karin had been tempted to tell him off for bothering her so damn much and making her angry, robbing her the chance to enjoy being outside the village for the first time in a long time, but she had an odd feeling that even if she did tell him off, the warning would just fly over his head. She just had to accommodate his current state; after all, it was bound to come to an end sooner than later._

 _So it was with that formula for the next ten or so structures they came across, whether they were full buildings or even ruins, they had finally reached the designated place._

The two were still standing outside the temple, Naruto looking at Karin as she studied the outside sections of the temple with a hand pursed underneath her chin.

"What were you all doing in such a place? It's all beat down," Naruto asked, a bit disappointed as he had expected a temple as magnificent in stature as the one he had witnessed at the heart of the Fire Country. Said temple in question seemed somewhat between a fully fledged structure and a shackled down old building. There were visible cracks on the walls outside the building, and the entrance to the building had an arched sign above it with a spiral formation on it, the symbol of the Uzumaki Clan.

"Saving all your asses. Come on, we don't have all day," Karin said, as she crossed past Naruto and entered the temple. She was not particularly sure whether they would make the trip to the Land of Eddies in one day, and the thought of setting up camp at this temple had appealed to her at one point, but she pushed the thought to the back of her mind and decided that she would first deal with what she had come to do at this temple, and any other things would come after that.

The interior of the building had been exactly as Sasuke had described it to her, the walls of the temple were covered in spiral like patterns, similar to what covered the floor as well and was imprinted at the forefront of the building. You could tell that the temple was age old from the way the walls peeled off at some sections while other sections had caved in completely, giving a glimpse of the white inner parts of the building. The floor had small cracks on its surface the more you pressed on, and there was a thin film of dust on the surface, something that both Naruto and Karin picked up on with each step they took sending a trail of dust particles upwards.

For quite a while, nothing out of the ordinary appeared in the temple, but before the blonde man could voice his protest at this being just another ordinary building and calling the entire trip inside here a snooze fest, the path before them widened and became a tad brighter than the dimly lit path that they were walking on beforehand.

The wider room was exactly what Karin was in search for this entire time. At the centre of the wider room, there was a podium of sorts where there were several masks that hung off the walls under three connected symbols of the clans, and underneath the masks were ornate, black flames. The walls of the room too, apart from the usual spiral markings that marked them, were also lined with masks of all shapes and sizes. The masks in the room all had one thing in common; they all seemed like ogre masks, akin to masks that ANBU would be prone to wear. Some of the said masks looked horrendously grotesque, and some, well, were at least pleasant to look upon and didn't seem as if they were about to devour you the longer you stared at them.

Naruto was wowed by the place, it being like nothing that he had ever seen before, and all his earlier notions about the temple being a bore all ebbed away from his mind. His mouth was wide agape, and his eyes had grown to the size of bulbs, as they darted from corner to corner of the room. He had placed one hand over his eyes as he also stared up at the ceiling, as if to shield him from the wondrous nature of the hall.

Before Karin could even blink, the man was already at one corner of the room, his hands on each and every mask within possible reach. His eyes were shining bright by then, and short giggled escaped his mouth every now as he marveled in what he was seeing. "What is this place? It's hella awesome!" Now one thing that needed to be said about Uzumaki Naruto was that whenever he found something that grabbed all his attention, he had a tendency of throwing all caution to the wind.

"Hey! Don't just put on any of those masks on!" Karin warned him when she had caught sight of him handling so many masks at once.

Fortunately this time, Naruto was not alone, and whenever someone used the harsh tone that Karin had used on him just then, he was usually bound to listen. Meekly, he restored the masks one by one to their original positions, and Karin was relieved that he had actually chosen to pay heed to her advice this time. That did not, however, avoid Naruto from craning his head backwards to look at her and also pouting, with a longing look in his gaze. "But….." he started in a weak attempt at a retort.

Karin fervently shook her head, not letting that look even work on her a little. Sasuke had told her about what had happened when Orochimaru had put one of the masks, and even if he had done so intentionally, there was still no way she was going to let Naruto put on one of the masks willy nilly just in his expeditions for fun. She was not about to take responsibility for what was going to happen to him, bearing in mind that it wasn't going to be anything pretty.

"Would you calm down for a little bit? You seem to be in quite a hurry." Karin said to Naruto, once he had finally put down the last mask and she was sure she now had his attention.

He turned his head back to look at her, an unreadable expression of sorts on his face, and Karin was visited by a strange idea just then," Are you that eager to finish this expedition and go back to the village?" One couldn't blame her of course for misreading the situation completely, the only things she knew about Naruto she had been told passively, and even then she could not get the entire gist of things without seeing some things first hand from him.

Naruto understood this perfectly well, owing to the calm disposition he still maintained. He bobbed his head to the side from where he stood, seemingly pandering over something a little, before he responded, "Well, there is that," The pensive look on his face soon melted away into something more typical of him, his usual sunlit smile," But more than that, I guess I'm kind of excited to see where my mom came from."

 _Well, that is kind of sweet._ She sighed a little, feeling a little ashamed of coming out a little stronger than she had intended to when she asked him the question, before smiling in resignation and placing one hand atop her waist. "I understand. Just, don't put on any of those masks. Trust me; you won't live to regret it."

The warning seemed to work when it was delivered this time, sending a shiver down Naruto's spine, and he nodded in affirmation, before turning back to look at the masks, this time with a degree of control in his actions.

"But you know….this place sort of reminds me of the mask stands that are usually set up at festivals in Konoha," Naruto remarked to no one in particular as he took a closer look at the masks.

"Festival?" Karin asked, perking up her head from where she was packing scrolls into her bag a few meters away. Underneath the podium that lay at the centre of the room, it turned out that there was a small compartment that was fitted into the wall, and said compartment had some scrolls that were placed there. The scrolls themselves had all been folded up, and were not in the best of condition owing to the tatters and tears on some of them. This did not deter Karin however, since she figured that as long as she had the scrolls, she could always figure out a way to decipher them on her own later. Besides, that was the primary reason that she had come there, and she was pleased that the trip was already bearing fruits even long before they reached where they were going. She had a feeling the scrolls were part of their heritage, so rather than leave them to rot in that god forsaken place; the best thing to do would be to take them somewhere where they would prove more successful.

Naruto's remark just then had drawn her attention, and the more she thought on it the more she realized that she had never really seen much of the village or its customs ever since she had settled in. Part of it was because she wanted to keep to herself, but a greater part of it was because she was not exactly sure how she would fit in with the other villagers. She had never quite gotten used to the concept of having a settled life as a shinobi, as most of her life had not consisted of well, peace. So the concept of a festival, as bizarre as it sounded, felt completely new and unexplored to her.

"Yeah, now that I think of it, you've never been to any of the festivals ever since you came to the village, right? Oh I know!" Naruto remarked, pressing one of his hands," When we get back to the village we should definitely go to one of the festivals. Sakura-chan and Sasuke can tag along as well. How does that sound?" He asked her genuinely, a warm smile placated on his face.

The red haired girl had not expected such a question to be sprung on her out of the blue. But even so, she could not deny the tingle of excitement that she felt crawling up her spine at that moment. Going on a date with Sasuke was always something worth looking forward to. And well, having Naruto's company to share wouldn't prove as bad as she initially thought, so would there be any harm really?

She nodded. "That would be great!"

Alas, as the red haired girl was caught up in her short lived elation, she forgot that at the moment she was currently handling some scrolls that were supposed to be handled with the utmost care. Consequentially, one of the scrolls in her hand accidentally slipped, and it unfurled quite a ways onto the ground in between her and Naruto.

Naruto guffawed a little," Pfft, who was the one telling me to be careful now!"

Karin flushed a little, before bending over to pick over the scroll. She had the time to read a few of the characters from the scroll, before a flash of light erupted from the scroll.

"Wha-"

A few minutes later, the light from the scroll receded, and a pin drop silence took hold of the room once more.

 **A/N:** A few points to take down, the temple that Naruto and Karin have visited in this chapter are the temple that Sasuke, Orochimaru, Jugo and Suigetsu visited in order to meet up with the Hokages. Although in this case I decided to add a few of my own touches with the scrolls plot, we didn't see enough of the temple save for the masks and I feel as if it could have been more than what we have seen. So I hope that moot point doesn't cause any confusions for anyone, in case it did I hope this part makes it clear.

Other than that, this chapter turned out well, for the most part. I'm actually glad I was able to pen in everything I had in mind for it, so well I also hope that you guys like it!

Till next time then, toodles!


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